Clock-operated calendar



F. NEDBALEK Nov. 30 1926. 1,608,906

CLOCK OPERATED CALENDAR Filed ust 12 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 J1! VENT 0RJEowzey-F Nov. 30 1926. 1,608,906

F.NEDBALEK CLOCK OPERATED CALENDAR Filed August 12, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet2 jg 4Z2 Z0 3 N22; e; 7 "2! 1 M 10.2

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. F. NEDBALEK CLOCK OPERATED CALENDAR Filed August 12 1925 4Sheets-Sheet 5 JULY4 FRHJAY Jun 5 F. NEDBALEK CLOCK OPERATED CALENDARNov. 30 1926.

Filed August 12, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Nov. 3t), 192.

,UNITED STATES hteattfi rarest orrlca. I

FRANK NEDBALEK, OF ID'UGEUESNE, PENNSYLVANIA.

CLO CK-OPERATEI) This invention relates to calendars and more inparticular to automatic clock operated calendars.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a mechanical calendardevice which is adaptedto be used in connection with alarm clocks, orother spring oper ated clocks of similar design. Another object of thisinvention is to provide a calendar in which a renewable strip, orribbon, of paper containing the days of the year is automaticallychanged by the clock to which said calendar is connected. A furtherobject is to provide such a calendar which is provided with all theadjustable features required to take care of the various eXigenciesoccurring in the year-round operation of a clock. Additional featuresand advantages of this invention will appear from thefollowingdescription considered in connection with the accompanyingdrawings forming part of this application and in which:

Fig. 1 represents a front elevation of an alarm-clock mounted upon andoperating my mechanical calendar.

Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4c is a perspective view showing a more artistic application of myinvention.

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the mechanical calendar operatingmechanism.

Fig. 6 is av front elevation of the calendar operating mechanism withthe front wall removed, or assumed transparent, to better illustrate themechanism.

Fig. 7 is a cross section taken on line 7-7 in Fig. 5.

Fig. 8 is a cross section taken on line 8-8 in Fig. 5.

Fig. 9 is a detail view showing the printed ribbon of the mechanicalcalendar.

Fig. 10 is a detail view, partly in section, of the winding shaft andconnected parts.

Fig. 11 is an enlarged view, partly in section, of the power-spring andshaft mechanism therefor.

Fig. 12 is an enlarged view of the escapementshaft and associated parts.

Fig. 13 is a front elevation, broken off, of the reels for the calendarribbons.

Fig. 14 shows a section taken on line 1414 in Fig. 13.

Referring to the drawings, the calendar mechanism is enclosed in aninner casing 1 open at the front and top, which slidably CALENDAR.

Application filed August 12, 1925. Serial No. 49,716.

engages an outer casing 2 which is open at the rear and top. Positionedwithin said casings is. the drive-shaft 3 and the idlershaft 4: uponwhich are respectively mounted the wind-up reel 5 and the supply-reel 6.

The drive shaft 3 is composed of two coaXially disposed portions, namelythe short spring hub 7 and the long portion 8. The former comprises ajournal 9, the hub 10, the integral spur-gear 11 and the clutch portion12 having at its outer end the triangular clutch teeth 13.

The long portion 8 of the drive-shaft includes the journal 14:, thesolid section 15 and the hollowed portion 16 which is provided at theend with a slot 17 of suitable width and depth'to accommodate theoutwardly bent end 18 of the coil-spring 19 which is inserted in saidhollow portion. The hollow shaft 16 fits snugly within the clutchportion 12, whereby both parts of the drive-shaft are maintained inproper alignment. Suitable bearings 20 and 21 for the drive-shaft aresecured to the side-walls 22 and 23 of the inner casing, by means ofrivets 24. Secured to the shaft section 15 and adjacent the bearing 21is a ratchet wheel 25 which is engaged by. a spring pressed pawl 26rockably mounted on a support 27 secured to the inner wall 23.

The power required to automatically operate the calendar-ribbon isderived from a power-spring 28 having its inner end secured to the hub10 and its outer end 29 attached to a post support 30 fastened in anydesired manner to the wall 22 of the inner casing. T o properly guidethe many convo lutions ofthe power-spring, the latter is preferablyplaced between the guide-disks 31 securely held on the hub 10.

Suitably located and secured on the solid shaft 15 is a flanged hub 32to which is permanently fastened the wind-up reel 5 by means of shortbendable lugs 33 which engage slots 31 cut in the periphery of said hub.This reel is composed of two lateral disks 35 centrally apertured to fitsnugly on the shaft 15, and of a drum 36 in which is provided alongitudinal slot 37 wherein may be inserted the starting end 38 of thecalendar-ribbon 39, shown especially in Fig. 9.

In proper alignment with the. wind-up reel is positioned on theidler-shaft 4 the supply reel 6 which is removably securable thereon bymeans of a flanged hub 40 fastened on the shaft. The construction ofsaid reel is identical to that of the wind-up reel above mentioned and,therefore, need not be described here. Suflice it to say that thesupply-reel is preferably sold to the trade with the calendar-ribbonwound thereon and that the former must be removed from the idler-shaftwhenever the ribbon is run out. For this reason, the lugs 83 of the reelare made sufficiently pliable to permit their bending over the flangedhub 40 by hand, and without using any special tool.

The idler shaft rests in bearings. 41, secured to the inner casing,which are preferably open to facilitate the removal of the shaft andreel when required. As shown in Figs. 7 and 8, the open slots 42 whereinthe shaft lies are inclined in opposite direction to the pull on thecalendar-ribbon, to prevent said shaft from being forced out of itsbearings. To maintain a certain tension in the calendar-ribbon 39, afriction disk 43, preferably knurled at the periphery, is securelymounted on the idler-shaft to be engaged by a spring-feather 48, therebycausing enough friction on the shaft to maintain the calendar-ribbonfairly taut.

On its way from the supply-reel to the wind-up reel, the calendar-ribbonengages the friction rollers 44 and 45 and the lower guide roller 46.These rollers are preferably lined with rubber to insure a betterfrictional contact with the calendar-ribbon. The shaft 47, of roller 44,is rotatably mounted in bearings 48 provided in the links 49 which arehingedly mounted on brackets 50 fastened to the front wall 51 of theinner casing. Tension-springs 52 are also used on each side of theroller 44 to increase the pressure thereof on the calendar-ribbon. Thepoint of' attachment of these springs on said links is such that thelatter will be held in their lifted position, shown. in dot and dashlines in Fig. '8, by the tension in said springs.

To prevent any slipping of the ribbon on the roller 44, the latter ispreferably provided adjacent both ends with peripherally disposed shortand sharp pins or protuberances 53 which slightly penetrate the edges ofthe ribbon and insure a substantially positive engagement between thelatter and the. roller 44.

The rollers 45 and 46 are rotatably mounted in bearings 54 and 55respectively, secured to the front wall 51. An aperture 56 of suitablesize is cut in the latter intermediate said rollers to expose part ofthe face of the calendar-ribbon upon which the dates are printed.

winder 5 7 and is connected by a suitable chain 60 to another sprocket61 securely fastened at the outer end of the winder-shaft 62 which issuitably supported by means of the bushing 63, secured in the rear wall64 of the outer casing, and the bearing support 65 fastened on thebottom 66 of the inner casing.

The winder-shaft 62 is composed of two telescoping parts 67 and 68. Thefirst, and smaller one, extends through the wall 64 and carries thesprocket 61. This part is centrally bored to a desired depth and isprovided at its inner end with a slot 69. VVithin the bore of part 67 isplaced a coiled spring 70, the outer end of which has an outwardlydirected extension 71 which engages the slot 69 and protrudes acertainamount out of the part 67. A collar 72 is also shown to hold this partof the shaft in position.

Part 68 is provided with a central bore 73 to be engaged by part 67 andhas cut at its outer end triangular clutch-teeth 68 which are engaged bythe spring extension 71. At the inner end of part 68 is securelypositioned the bevel gear 74. A collar 75 is used to prevent any axialdisplacement of part 68 in its bearing support.

The power imparted to the shaft 62 is transmitted to the power-spring 28through the agency of a segmental bevel-gear 76 and the spur-gear 77which are keyed on a common hub 78 mounted for rotation on thestationary pin 79 secured in the bracket 80 fastened to the wall 22. Acollar 81 holds these gears in proper position. A spur-gear 77 mesheswith the spur-gear 11 by means of which the power-spring 28 is wound.The reason for using a segmental bevel-gear 7 6 in connection with thepinion 74 is that the power-spring 28 need not be wound as many turnsthe main-spring of the alarm-clock, since the former works only a shorttime, once a day. It will be seen from Fig. 7 that when the pinion hasrotated a few times,

from 4 to 6 times, it will leave its engage- .ment with the teeth of thesegmental-gear and enter the blank space 82, so that the former will notbe affected by any further rotation of the pinion.

The daily automatic shifting of the calendar-ribbon is operated from thecenter-shaft 83 of the alarm-clock, which shaft, as is well known,rotates but once every hour. Upon thi shaft is secured thechain-sprocket 84 which transmit its roation, by means of thedrive-chain 85, to a sprocket-wheel 86 mounted on the calendar operatingshaft 87.

The construction of this shaft is substantially identical to that of thewinder-shaft 62 and comprises the male portion 88 which engages thefemale portion 89 having at its outer end clutch-teeth 90 which are maderectangular in shape to permit rotation of the pinion 91 in eitherdirection. This shaft is supported in the bushing 92 and thebearing-support 93 and is properly held in place by the collars 9a and95. Power is transmitted from the sprocket 86 to the pinion 91 by theoutward extension 96 of the spring 97, which extension engages the slot98- and the teeth 90.

The reason for makingv the shafts 62 and 87 in two telescoping parts isto permit the extraction of the inner casing and mechanism thereinwithout disturbing the chain-drives connecting the alarm-clock with thecalendar mechanism.

The pinion 91 meshes with a horizontal crown-gear 99, the diameter ofwhich is 2 times that of the pinion, so that said gear will rotate onlyonce a day. On the outer periphery of said'gear are also provided a fewteeth 100 which come into meshing engagement every 2% hours with a gear101 secured at the lower end of the vertical escapement-shaft 102. Tofacilitate the proper adjustment of'the teeth 100 in relation with thegear 101, the crown-gear 99 is preferably marked with graduat-ions 103running from 1 to.24:, and a pointer 104 is provided on the bottom 66 ofthe inner casing. The crown-gear is rotatably mounted on a vertical pin105 secured on a pedestal 106 fastened in any desired manner to thebottom 66. A friction device, such as the spring-feather 107 bearing ontop of the crown-gear-teeth is also shown to prevent undesired rotationof the crown-gear due to jars or other accidental causes.

The escapement-shaft 102 is mounted for rotation in the bearings 108 and109 secured to the side-wall 23. Collars 110 insure proper location ofthis shaft. At the up per end of the latter, at substantially the samelevel as the roller-shaft 47, is securely mounted the escapement disk111, which in the present case is shown as having four vanes, as shownespecially in Fig. 12; the high point of each vane being positionedclirectly above the low point of the adjacent vane. At the right end ofthe roller shaft l7 is. secured a pin 113 which normally presses on thetop side of any one of the vanes, due to the action of the pull of thecalendar-ribbon 39 on the roller 4 1.

The inner and outer casings 1 and 2 are locked into proper relation bymeans of any suitable and desired locking device. In the drawings I haveshown the use of a simple catch-spring 11 1 which is riveted to thebottom 66 and which engages an aperture 115 provided in the rear wall 64of the outer casing. A lug 116 is struck up in the catchspring to engagethe upper side of this aperture and prevent the accidental extraction ofthe inner casing.

Having described the principal elements of my invention. its operationmay be succinctly explained, as follows:

When the main spring of the alarm-clock is wound up, say in thedirection of the arrow over the sprocket-wheel; 59 in Fig. 2, thepower-spring 28 will also be wound up as many turns as the segmentalgear 76. will permit, ashas already been explained. During the windingup process of the spring 28,

the end 18 of the coil-spring 19 will simply snap over the clutch-teeth13, and the long portion 8 of the drive-shaft upon which the wind-upreel 5v is mounted will remain sta tiona-ry, it being further preventedfrom re,-

tating by the ratchet-pawl arrangement 25 r bon is preferably done at orabout midnight, which hour is indicated by the graduation 24 on thecrown-gear 99. When this time has arrived, the teeth 100 on said gearimpart to the gear 101, theescapementshaft 102 and the escapement-disk111 a quarter turn, in the present design, which causes the pin 113 toglide along the top of one of the vanes until it reaches. the lower endthereof, at which instant the roller-shaft 47 will be free to rotatepractically a full turn, that is, until the pin strikes the top of thenext following vane, owing to the tension existing in thecalendar-ribbon. The size of the rollers 14;, 415 and the spacing of thedates 011 the ribbon are so proportioned that each turn of theroller-shaft will shift the calendar-ribbon to the next following date.This same process is repeated for every day of the year, at the end ofwhich a new calendar-ribbon must be inserted, unless a longer ribbon beused. The renewal is done by pulling the inner casing out, unrolling thecalendarribbon which has now gathered on the reel 5 and replacing theused up supply-reel by a newv one inamanner that will be readilyunderstood by those versed in the art.

Should it occur that, for any reason, the alarm-clock has stoppedrunning, the calendar is readily set to the proper date upon resumptionof operation in the following manner, after the inner casing has beenextracted and the roller-shaft 47 raised in the position shown in dotand dash lines in Fig. 8:At the end of the shaft portion 15 there isprovided a polygonal aperture 117, and an opening 118 is cut oppositethis end in the inner wall 23. A special set-key 119, having a suitablyshaped shank 120 is supplied with every apparatus and by means of thiskey the shaft section 15 is rotated until the proper date appears in thesight-aperture 56.

However, this rotation causes the unwinding of the power-spring 28, andthe latter must be wound up again by inserting the same set-key 119 inthe hollow portion 68 of the winder-shaft 62. For this purpose, theset-key is also provided with a crown 121 upon which are cut suitableteeth to fit those on the shaft portion 69.

The time required for making the above changes or adjustments amounts toonly a few minutes, generally. But, in the meanwhile, the center-shaft83 and its sprocket 8 1 of the alarm-clock keep on turning slowing, sothat when the inner casing is again inserted in place, the springextension 96 may not readily engage one of the spaces between therectangular clutch-teeth 90. When the lapse of time is short, no furtheradjustment need be made, as this extension will soon engage one of saidspaces and it is of no great importance whether or not the change ofdate be made a few minutes before or after midnight.

It the calendar mechanism has been disconnected too long from thealarmclock, it becomes necessary to make adjustments to thecalendar-shitting mechanism also. This may be done by using the sameset-key 119 on the clutch-teeth 90 or, preferably, by rotating thecrown-gear 99 by hand until the actual hour or" the day at which thisregulating is being done, as read on the graduations 103, appears inline with the pointer 104. When so adjusted, the change of date willoccur at midnight.

The arrangement shown in Figs. 1 to 3 enables the application of myinvention in connection with old alarm-clocks or other similar clocks.More pretentious effects are obtained in the embodiment illustrated inFig. 4 wherein a complete calendar mechanism would be assembled in adrawer-like container 122 provided with a pull knob 123, and which wouldcorrespond to the inner casing mentioned hereinbei ore. The constructionof the interior mechanism would be the same as above described, exceptfor minor changes required by the shape of the outer casing.

Also, if desired, the calendar ribbon may have printed thereon, inaddition to the dates, supplementary matter such as historical orreligious holidays, etc, corres ponding to the various dates. v

As will be understood, as suggested herein, there may be slight changesmade in the construction and arrangement of the details of my inventionwithout departing from the field and scope of the same, and I intend toinclude all such variations, as fall within the scope of the appendedclaims, in this application in which the preferred form only of myinvention has been illustrated and described.

1. In a clock operated calendar, a supply reel; a calendar-ribbon woundthereon; a wind-up reel and a spring operated mechanism adapted forwinding said ribbon from said supply-reel onto said wind-up reel;

a plurality of guide-rolls and a pressureroll positioned intermediatesaid reels and engaged by said ribbon, and a release mechanism adaptedto periodically release a definite portion of said ribbon onto saidwind-up reel, said release mechanism comprising a stop-pin positioned onthe shaft of said pressure-roll, an ,escapement-disc and clock operatedmeans for periodically rotating said escapement-disc.

2. In a clock operated calendar, a supply reel; a calendar-ribbon woundthereon; a wind-up reel and a spring operated mechanism adapted forwinding said ribbon from said supply-reel onto said windup reel; aplurality of guide-rolls for said ribbon; a pressure roll adapted toexert-a yielding pressure upon one of said guiderolls and to be rotatedby said ribbon; a shaft for said pressure-roll; a stop-pin positioned onsaid shaft and adapted to prevent the rotation thereof; an escapementdisc comprising a plurality of inclined seotoral vanes adapted to beengaged by said stop-pin, and clock operated means for periodicallyreleasing the engagement between said stop-pin and escapement-disc topermit the rotation of said friction-roll for the purpose of winding adefinite portion of said ribbon on said wind-up reel.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

FRANK NEDBALEK.

